In pursuit of humanised order picking planning: methodological review, literature classification and input from practice

Abstract

At the core of every high-performing warehouse is an efficient order picking (OP) system. To attain such a system, policy choices should be carefully aligned with subjects responsible for the actual picking within the established system. Despite recent advancements in automating the picking process due to Industry 4.0, human operators will continue to play a crucial role in the future of warehousing. However, unlike robots, human operators have specific skills, conduct, and perceptions, which are only partly accounted for in current planning models. This review adopts a multimethod approach to identify and analyse how these phenomena are currently integrated into OP planning problems. In addition, we assess the relevance and adequacy of human factors modelling in academic literature with practice-based insights gathered via semi-structured interviews. This leads to five major human factors integration constructs and dedicated recommendations on how to refine them. We then take the analysis one step further and make suggestions on how to integrate these constructs with leading research methodologies in the context of Industry 5.0. The results highlight the prevalent need to increasingly account for psychosocial phenomena and their impact on operational performance. Future research opportunities provide a substantiated foundation to assist in human-centric work design.

KEYWORDS:

• Logistics
• warehouse operations management
• human factors
• literature review
• multimethod approach
• Industry 4.0 and 5.0

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, T. De Lombaert. The data are not publicly available due to research collaboration agreements with cooperating companies.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (Strategic Basic Research project Data-driven logistics,  FWO-SOO7318N).

Notes on contributors

Thomas De Lombaert

Thomas De Lombaert is a PhD student at Hasselt University, at the Faculty of Business Economics (BEW). He received his MSc. in Business Engineering from KU Leuven (Belgium) in 2020. He is currently working on the integration of human factors in order picking planning problems. His research interests include the application of Operations Research (OR) techniques in the field of operations management and logistics, with a focus on warehouse operations.

Kris Braekers

Kris Braekers is an associate professor at the Faculty of Business Economics (BEW) of Hasselt University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Economics at Hasselt University in 2012. His research mainly focuses on the development of (heuristic) solution approaches for complex combinatorial optimisation problems in logistics, including problems related to vehicle routing, warehouse operations and healthcare logistics.

René De Koster

René (M.) B.M. de Koster is a professor of logistics and operations management at the Department of Technology and Operations Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). His research interests are warehousing, material handling, container terminal operations, and behavioural operations. He is the author and editor of eight books and over 250 papers published in books and journals. He is in the editorial boards of eight academic journals, member of the European Logistics Association (ELA) R&D board, member of the BVL Scientific Advisory Board, chairman of Stichting Logistica, and founder of the Material Handling Forum. He holds the honorary Francqui chair for Hasselt University in 2018.

Katrien Ramaekers

Katrien Ramaekers is associate professor in Operations Management and Logistics at the Faculty of Business Economics (BEW) of Hasselt University. She obtained her PhD in Applied Economics in 2007 at Hasselt University. In her PhD she developed a simulation optimisation framework for inventory management decision support based on incomplete information. Her research interest goes to the application of Operations Research techniques in the field of operations management and logistics, with a focus on warehousing and health care logistics.